Bouquet of Life
by Sweetie-Eevee
Summary: Everyday is a flower in the bouquet of life. At the moment it may not seem like much, but one day you will look back and see that everyday was special in its own way. A collection of one-shots of the day-to-day happenings that occur during the lives of our Pandora Hearts characters. (set in my story Blue Rose Petals)
1. These Past 10 Years

_Setting: Right after Alexis rejoined Pandora_

 _Alexis wonders what Gilbert does to relax and accidentally reminds him of the past._

* * *

It was a lazy kind of day. No clouds or breeze to disrupt the weather. There wasn't much movement at Pandora. Everyone was going at their own speed.

Alexis sighed as she dropped her book in her lap. She glanced at her partner who was going over reports at the desk. She and Gilbert had been left alone when Alice insisted that Oz take her to get some food. It was close to lunch, but she wouldn't hear it—she wanted it now.

"Gilbert," she called. He looked up from his papers. "What do you like to do for fun?" It took him a second to process what she had just asked. He furrowed his brows in confusion. "Come again?"

She slid her book off of her lap and onto the couch as she got up. She walked over to the desk and placed her hands on it, slightly leaning against the side. "What do you do for fun, Gilbert? Whenever I see you you're either working or keeping Oz and Alice out of trouble. I don't think I have ever seen you relaxed since my return to Pandora."

"I relax," he protested. "Just… not here." Alexis took her hands off the desk and crossed her arms. "I do," he reiterated, "It's just hard to do what I like at Pandora." Alexis' stare softened as she asked, "Why? You deserve to relax as much as anyone."

Gilbert began to shift uncomfortably. "I-it's just a bit difficult, that's all." He quickly went back to his papers.

"Gilbert."

"…"

"GILBERT."

"…"

"…"

At hearing her move, Gilbert was almost tempted to see what she was doing—almost. He heard her move around the desk and behind his chair. She could do anything; which she did.

One second Gilbert had his hat, and the next it was plucked right off his head. He sharply spun around to see Alexis wearing his beloved hat with a cheeky grin. "Oz once told me that a guaranteed way to get your attention was by taking your hat." She skipped away a few steps and took in her appearance in a decorative mirror that hung on the wall. "Although I don't blame you, Ada has impeccable taste."

He couldn't really get upset; he knew that Alexis wouldn't do anything to his hat. In fact, she looked… cute. It brought a smile to his face.

Alexis turned back to look at Gilbert as he still sat in his chair, and was embarrassed by his stare. He didn't look upset, rather he was staring at her with a soft smile.

At seeing her embarrassed face, Gilbert quickly looked away. "Well, if you really want to know I'll tell you," he gave in. Alexis beamed and walked back over to him, keeping the hat on her head. He glanced at his hat and back at her. "You'll get it back _after_ you tell me," she explained as she firmly gripped the brim. He sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

Gilbert crossed his arms and avoided eye contact as he said, "I… enjoy to cook." He waited for a response, but none came. He finally looked up at Alexis only to see her with an empathetic smile. "You didn't want to say because certain friends of ours have made fun of your hobby, haven't they?"

"An aristocrat has no reason to set foot in the kitchen," he explained with a huff. Alexis began to giggle at his response to which Gilbert blushed. "But you're you, Gilbert! You have a caring nature," she explained. "Cooking can be seen as a way of caring for someone, so it makes sense that you would enjoy to cook." At seeing him unconvinced, she carefully replaced his hat on his head and added, "You can't change who you are. You need to accept it, like I did."

Gilbert's eyes widened. "You?"

"Yes, me," Alexis repeated. She reached into her dress skirts that held a secret slit to her leg. "Do you honestly think high society approves of a young lady wielding a gun?" she said as she pulled out her gun. "It was hard on me when Break was training me with a sword, and Reim was training me to shoot." She sighed. "Any event I went to I would see the stares and hear the whispers. It took me a long time to realize that what others said didn't matter, and I was doing it for a reason that I could _not_ change; I wanted to protect, I wanted to help."

Gilbert knew that she was trying to make him feel better, but her words delivered an unintended blow.

He hadn't been there for her. Gilbert had tried his best to avoid her out of shame of abandoning the Vessalius family, and in the process avoided her struggles as well.

Alexis was startled when he suddenly grabbed her hand. "You…went through that, and I wasn't there." He stared into her eyes with an intense look. "I'm so sorry, Alexis."

As she fully realized his words, Alexis harshly pulled her hand away and took a step back. "Don't you dare say that," she snapped at him. "I _never_ hated you for avoiding me. I always believed that I reminded you of Oz as much as Oscar-sama and Ada.

"I will admit that at times I was angry," Alexis felt tears well up in her eyes, "I missed you, but if what you needed was space then I would try to give it to you."

Gilbert stood. "Alexis, I didn't deserve—"

"Do not give me that 'I betrayed you' speech," she cut in. "We never thought any less of you for being adopted by Nightray. You had a reason for your actions." She slowly shook her head, "I never stopped thinking of you as my friend." As hard as she tried to hold back her tears, it was becoming harder and harder the more she spoke. Alexis opened her mouth to say more, but couldn't. She covered her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from crying.

"I need to go," she choked out. Alexis quickly left before Gilbert could react.

Gilbert was dumbfounded. He had no idea that she still held so much emotion inside.

A distraught Oz suddenly burst through the door. "Gil, what did you do to Alexis?! We just saw her crying!" Alice entered the room with an apple in hand, "I never thought the seaweed head would upset Alexis like that."

Oz approached his valet and punched his shoulder. "Explain yourself, Gilbert!"

Gilbert flinched. "I-I don't know! We were talking about my cooking and…" A realization hit him. Had she not fainted from seeing Oz for the first time in ten years from her overwhelming emotions? Alexis had Oscar and Ada, but she had a different relationship with them then she did with himself and Oz. The only people she could trust with her feelings, and neither of them were there for her. She had to learn to handle her emotions on her own in the past ten years.

He was an idiot.

"Gil!" called Oz.

Gilbert groaned. "Why didn't I see it," he mumbled, much to Oz and Alice's confusion. "I need to talk to her, where did Alexis go?" Oz frowned, "It looked like she was headed for her room. You better make it up to her." Gilbert nodded before hurrying out to find her.

* * *

She felt terrible. Alexis was lying face down on her bed waiting for her tears to dry. She didn't want to remember how she felt these past ten years, and here was Gilbert bringing it back up.

A quick knock on her door startled her. She quickly wiped her face before sitting up. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she went to the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Gilbert, Alexis."

Alexis took a few seconds contemplating if she should open the door. She opened it and walked back to her bed. Gilbert entered and closed the door behind him. He didn't move from his spot by the door as Alexis sat on her bed. They were like this for a few seconds, avoiding eye contact.

"Alexis, I'm sorry," he started as he finally looked at her, "not for the past ten years, I'm sorry for what I was just doing. I was bringing up the past when you've already worked through it. I'm just making you hurt again for my own selfish reasons."

She stood and walked up to him. "I accept your apology, Gilbert, you didn't mean to hurt me." She felt a gloved hand stroke her cheek before gently wiping her dried tears. "I would never want to hurt you," Gilbert admitted. Alexis took his hand away from her face and gently grasped it with both of her hands. "I just want you to understand that I never hated you for what you did these past ten years," she explained.

Alexis smiled, and Gilbert gladly returned it.

Alexis suddenly leaned in close, surprising Gilbert. He blushed at realizing how close she was. She was getting closer and closer until she turned her face to whisper in his ear, "By the way, you were being followed."

He froze.

When she pulled away, he saw a playful smile on her face. Alexis pointed to her door and motioned for him to be quiet. She walked to the door, and, with a hand on the knob, announced, "I hope Oz isn't worried. I didn't say a word when I passed him in the hall." She quickly yanked the door open and saw a surprised Oz and confused Alice on the other side.

"Hello, Oz," greeted Alexis with a strained smile. The greeting was met with a nervous grin.

Alice looked at Oz, Alexis, and back at Oz. "I thought you said it was alright to do this?" she questioned. Alexis raised an eyebrow, "Oh, did he, Alice? What exactly did Oz say?"

Before Alice could say, Oz quickly covered Alice's mouth, "You know I think it's lunch time! You only had fruit earlier, Alice, and I hear that they made prime rib." That was all he had to say. The young chain grabbed Oz and dashed away with an ecstatic "Meat!"

Alexis stared after them with a frown. "Cute as ever I see," she commented.

Gilbert walked up behind her. "When did you know he was here?" he asked. Alexis smiled. "I think you're slipping, Gilbert, he was following you when I opened the door," she explained. His eyes widened at his own lack of awareness. He sighed, "I didn't realize I was that distracted."

"We should join them," Alexis announced. She turned to Gilbert. "I never got my answer from Alice on what Oz said," she added.

Without a word, Gilbert closed her door and offered her his arm. "Oz did tell me to make it up to you." Alexis accepted with a smile.


	2. Birthday Gift

_Setting: 100 years ago before Oswald became Glen_

 _Jack realizes just how close Iris and Oswald are._

* * *

He hadn't seen him in a few days. In fact, Jack hadn't seen Oswald in four days. In that time he had been to the Baskerville estate two times and hadn't seen a single second of Oswald. He had become so curious that Jack decided to ask his two sources for everything and anything Oswald related: Lacie and Glen.

"Where's Oswald?" he asked on his third visit without seeing Oswald. He was in Lacie's tower sitting in the company of Lacie and Glen. The once bored Glen perked up at the question. "Well it is Iris' birthday this Sunday," he answered as if that were explanation enough—it wasn't.

Lacie sighed. "He doesn't know," she said with a frown. She turned to Jack. "Every year, Oswald composes a song for Iris for her birthday, and every year he spends close to a week working on it."

Jack's eyes widened. "Every year, just for Iris?" he thought aloud. Glen nodded, "Well it is a special gift since they learned to play music together. You could think of it as the beginning of their relationship." He paused for a second. "Well besides being forcibly introduced to each other," he added with a smirk.

"That's…really sweet!" Jack beamed. "I never thought Oswald to think up something like that."

"He didn't," Lacie deadpanned.

"He didn't?" Jack repeated. He was answered by a shake of Lacie's head as Glen began to laugh, much to Jack's confusion. "He got the idea from…somewhere," Lacie explained over Glen's laughter.

Glen calmed down after another minute and continued Lacie's explanation. "When he was around 14, Oswald found the idea in a romance novel. A _very_ romantic novel." The emphasis was enough to get his point across. "The boy had no idea what it was about, he just found the book with a bookmark at a particular scene and found the idea. When I found it…" Glen burst out laughing again at the thought. Being familiar of the kind of person Glen was, Jack was full of pity for the 14-year-old Oswald.

"Anyway," Lacie started, "that aside, he still really liked the idea and composes a song for Iris every year." Jack smiled; he was always pleasantly surprised at what he found out about Oswald.

* * *

A soothing melody drifted down the hall. It was so calming and serene, and could only be described as a masterpiece.

Silence.

The music suddenly stopped and the hall was void of any sound. It was slightly unsettling.

Jack was standing at the music room's door when the music suddenly stopped. He heard a soft sigh through the closed door. He quietly opened the door and peeked inside. Oswald was sitting at the piano with sheet music in his hands. It appeared that he had stopped to review his song.

As Jack opened the door another inch, one of the hinges let out a small creak. It wasn't loud, but considering that it was dead silent besides the rustle of papers, it was loud enough. Oswald sharply turned around, startling Jack. "H-hey, Oswald! What are you working on?" His stoic faced friend studied him for a second before turning back to his sheet music. "A song," he calmly explained.

At not having gotten a negative reaction, Jack took it as a go-ahead to enter. "Do you need any help?" he asked as he approached the piano. Oswald's answer was immediate. "No, thank you."

"Are you sure, it seems like you're stuck," he asked again. "It will still be a special gift even if you get a little help." Jack could see that Oswald's shoulders had slightly tensed.

Oswald slowly looked up from the sheet music in his hands, not facing the blond. "Lacie told you." It was a statement, there was no denying it was his sister that had told Jack.

It was hard to tell if Oswald was upset at the fact that his friend knew, and even Jack wasn't sure. "Yes, she told me because I hadn't seen you in a few days and I was curious as to where you were," Jack explained. "I think it's a very thoughtful gift," he added with a smile.

There was a few seconds of silence as Oswald thought over Jack's offer. "The song is almost finished. Would you listen to it?" The blond beamed, "I would be glad to!" Oswald nodded and put back the sheet music as Jack sat on a nearby chair. After a quick glance at his friend, Oswald began to play.

* * *

It was Sunday, her birthday, and Iris was invited to the Baskerville manor—although she was always invited to the estate. "Come by whenever you like!" Glen would always say. It was important that she and Oswald establish a relationship before he took on his role as the next Glen.

She made her way inside and was met by her long-time friend in the front entry. "Hello, Iris, happy birthday," greeted Oswald with one of his rare smiles. She smiled, "Thank you, Oswald." Before either could say anything else, someone popped out from behind Oswald. "Happy birthday, Iris!" greeted Jack with a bright smile.

Iris jumped at not having had expected him. "O-oh, Jack, thank you. I didn't expect you to be here today."

"Well I heard from a little birdie that your birthday was today," he explained, "and of course I had to grant you my best wishes." Jack clapped his hands together, "Although it appears that I'm not the only one." He directed his gaze to a nearby parlor used to receive guests.

Iris followed his gaze and glanced at the slightly ajar doorway before turning back to the two. "Is someone else visiting today?" It took Jack a second to realize what he had implied with his words. "Oh, well, not exactly. Someone sent a gift," he explained with a sheepish smile.

"Although he did want to see you in person," added Oswald.

Jack led them to the parlor and opened the door wider. You didn't even have to be in the room to see the large bouquet. The dark blue vase easily held two dozen pristine white roses. Each delicate flower was in full bloom and had no imperfections to speak of. The sight was breathtaking.

Iris' eyes widened as she stepped closer to the bouquet. "They're magnificent! Who sent them?" she asked as she gently pulled out a long-stemmed rose. As she did so, a small envelope fell from its place tucked into the flowers. She picked it up and opened it to read for herself who had sent the gift. It was only a few sentences, but it was more than enough for the sender's wishes.

"I should send my thanks right away," she finally said. "I didn't know Duke Nightray knew my favorite flower." Jack turned to Oswald with a knowing smile as he said, "Right? Who would have guessed that Raymond knew?"

Jack was, of course, ignored.

* * *

Jack was staring out the window of Lacie's tower. "What's wrong, Jack? Upset that Oswald turned you away?" teased Glen. Not long after Iris received her gift from Raymond Nightray, Jack realized that Oswald wanted to give Iris her gift alone. He left before he became a third wheel.

He didn't respond to Glen. Jack turned back to the inside of the tower. "Oswald and Iris have a very close relationship," he stated, although it was more of a conclusion for himself.

"Well they must for their future roles," explained Glen. He studied Jack for a second before continuing, "But it seems that you have a different thought in mind." He pushed himself away from the wall and dropped himself on the couch Lacie was on. "Their relationship never evolved past friendship, if that's what you want to know," he added. "Although that didn't stop the nosy gossips."

"You know it was never going to happen," said Lacie. They both turned to her. She continued, "He cares for her, but not in that way. It's a purely platonic relationship." Glen hummed in thought. "That is the best way to say it, and it is usually the case," he agreed.

Lacie turned to him with a frown, "Usually?"

"Hm? Oh nothing, just ignore my ramblings," he reassured her.

As Lacie and Glen continued their back and forth, Jack sat in thought. Why did it matter to him? Oswald and Iris had been friends for years, since they were children; of course they had a close relationship. So what was this feeling he had?

* * *

Oswald concluded his song and turned to Iris. "That was wonderful, Oswald," she praised as she stood from her seat and walked over to him. "I really loved it. There was something… different about it from what you've composed before." She noticed that he was thinking about something. "Oswald?"

"I suppose it was different. Jack helped me the other day," he explained. Iris was taken aback—he had never asked for help on his songs for her before. "I see," she said. She sat next to him on the piano bench. There was a moment of silence between them.

"You and Jack have been getting close, haven't you?" she finally asked. Oswald sat in thought for a few seconds before answering, "I suppose we are."

"Do you see him as a friend?"

"I do." There wasn't hesitation in his answer. Iris felt her stomach twist, but ignored it.

She slowly nodded before smiling. "I'm glad. I'm glad that you've accepted someone as a friend." Iris gently placed her hand over Oswald's. "Thank you for my gift, Oswald."

* * *

Iris watched as the servant moved the vase out of the room. She was having her flowers from Duke Nightray moved to her room. She would be staying the night for a meeting she had in the morning.

She had kept a lone flower that she held and admired. Iris couldn't get over the gift. Not many people knew her favorite flower, so she had no doubt that Oswald had a hand in the gift. The thought brought a smile to her face.

"My, my, you certainly did enjoy Raymond's gift." Jack was standing just outside the doorway and was looking at the rose in her hand. "Oh, hello, Jack." Iris had no idea that he had been standing there. He walked in the room. "I came to say goodbye to you and Oswald," he explained as he stood in front of her. "I hope you enjoyed your birthday today," he added.

"I did, and I believe I have you to thank for helping Oswald," she answered.

Jack sheepishly smiled. "So he told you." Iris shook her head, "There was no need. I noticed that there was something different."

Iris' comment caught Jack's attention. "Really? You could tell just from his song?" he asked. She blushed in embarrassment at her own comment. "It does sound strange doesn't it? Oswald and I learned to play together, so I know his style," she explained with a bit of laughter in her voice. He slowly nodded his head, "I see."

Jack suddenly smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your day. I should see Oswald before I leave. Will you tell me where he is?"

"Yes, he's still in the music room," Iris answered. He chuckled, "Still there is he? Well, have a good night, Iris." He excused himself.

She watched him leave and disappear through the door. This feeling she had around him was indescribable. Was it good? Was it bad? What were her instincts trying to tell her? From the minute she first met Jack she had felt this.

She made a decision right then and there.

Oswald had a friend; she would ignore her feeling…for now.

Iris found herself gripping the rose to the point of almost breaking the stem. She stopped herself just in time.

She just hoped it was the right decision.


End file.
